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This Day in Baseball History
August 17th

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37 Fact(s) Found
1894 The Phillies rout the Colonels at the Philadelphia Baseball Grounds, 29-4. Louisville right-hander John Wadsworth sets a National League record by giving up 28 singles in one game.
1904 At Chicago's South Side Park, Boston American hurler Jesse Tennehill no-hits the White Sox, 6-0. The Americans will change their name to the Red Sox for the 1907 season.
1909 Nap Lajoie resigns as the manager of the faltering Cleveland club. The fans still show their support for the popular skipper when a response to a newspaper poll indicates the overwhelming choice is to keep the team name as the Naps instead of choosing a new one, which will not happen until they become the Indians following the 1914 season.
1915 Boston defeats the Cardinals in their debut at Braves Field, 3-1. The concrete and steel facility, which took only five months to construct, becomes the first ballpark to seat more than 40,000 fans.
1920 Cleveland shortstop Ray Chapman dies as a result of being hit by a pitch thrown by Yankee submariner Carl Mays. The tragedy remains the only on-field fatality in major league history.
1933 On his way to establishing the mark of playing in 2,130 consecutive games, Lou Gehrig quietly surpasses Everett Scott's previous record of 1,308 games. The first baseman's single and triple don't prevent the last place Browns from beating the Yankees in ten innings at Sportsman's Park, 7-6.
1937 In Cincinnati, the Cardinals beat the Reds with the final out being recorded at 12:02 a.m. making it the first major league game ever completed after midnight.
1947 The Lowell Orphans, a bankrupt mimor league team moved from Lawrence, MA last month, draws only 85 paying customers to a doubleheader. The team's poor performance, which includes a 20-game losing streak, causes the city to evict the New England League franchise from Alumni Field, making it necessary for the club to finish the season on the road.
1948 An estimated crowd of 100,000 fans pass by the body of Babe Ruth which is on display at Yankee Stadium. After the funeral in two days at St. Patrick's Cathedral, the 'Bambino' will be buried in the Cemetery of the Gate of Heaven in Hawthorne, New York.
1948 A day after Babe Ruth dies, Yankee Tommy Henrich hits his fourth grand slam of the season tying one of the Bambino's records.
1966 After tying Jimmie Foxx yesterday for most career home runs hit by a right-handed batter, Giants slugger Willie Mays passes 'Double X' with his 535th homer. The San Francisco center fielder now takes over second place on the all-time list trailing only Babe Ruth's 714.
1968 After four tries, the Mets still haven’t scored a run when Jim McAndrew starts a game with their 1-0 loss to Houston at Shea Stadium. In his first four major league appearances, the 24 year-old rookie right-hander has a puny 1.82 ERA, but is 0-4 due to the team dropping two 2-0 and two 1-0 decisions.
1971 Prior to tonight's game against the Senators, the A's are invited to the White House so President Nixon can meet with southpaw sensation, Vida Blue. The commander-in-chief tells the 21-year old left-hander, who is presently 22-4, he wouldn't want to be the team's lawyer negotiating the phenom's next contract given the success of the underpaid hurler this season.
1972 On his wife's birthday, Steve Calrton extends his streak to 15 consecutive victories when he beats Cincinnati 9-4 to win his 20th game of the season. After the contest, 'Lefty' returns from the clubhouse and stands near home plate to acknowledge the defending cheers from the sold-out crowd at Veterans Stadium.
1973 At Shea Stadium, 42-year old Willie Mays hits his 660th and final home run of his career off Cincinnati southpaw Don Gullett. The Mets first baseman, who played 21 seasons roaming the outfield for the Giants before coming home to New York last season, is third on the all-time home run career list behind Babe Ruth (714) and Hank Aaron (703).
1976 Royals' third baseman George Brett steals home in the tenth inning to beat the Indians, 4-3.
1980 With a 4-for-4 performance in the Royals' 8-3 victory over Toronto, George Brett reaches the .400 mark. The Kansas City third baseman receives a standing ovation from the home crowd of 30,693 fans when he reaches second base after blasting a bases-clearing double in the eighth inning.
1984 A stamp featuring Roberto Clemente, the fourth in a series honoring American sports heroes, is unveiled in Carolina, Puerto Rico, the late Pirates outfielder's home. The twenty cent six-color commemorative, designed by Juan Lopez-Bonilla, shows the pensive Hall of Famer wearing his Pittsburgh cap with the Puerto Rican flag in the background.

1984 Roberto Clemente stamp
1984 Pete Rose returns to the Cincinnati lineup for the first time in six years, going 2-for-4, including a single in his first at-bat, in the team's 6-4 victory over Chicago at Riverfront Stadium. 'Charlie Hustle', traded by the Expos yesterday in exchange for infielder Tom Lawless, also replaces Vern Rapp in the dugout in his new role as the club's player-manger.
1986 Pinch-hitting in the eighth inning of a 9-5 loss to the Padres at Riverfront Stadium, all-time hit leader Pete Rose makes his final major league appearance. The Reds player-manager, who will end his 24-year career with a .303 batting average, is struck out by future Hall of Famer Goose Gossage.
1990 White Sox backstop Carlton Fisk breaks Johnny Bench's record for home runs by a catcher hitting his 328th in a 4-2 victory over the Rangers.
1992 Kevin Gross no-hits the Giants at Dodger Stadium, 2-0 .
1999 Oriole reliever Jesse Orosco, 42, sets a major league mark pitching in his 1,072nd game passing Dennis Eckersley on the all-time career appearance list.
2001 After hitting a double, triple and homer, Blue Jay Jeff Frye elects to turn an apparent additional double in the 7th inning into a single making the infielder only the second player in Blue Jay history to hit for the cycle. Kelly Gruber, the other player to accomplish the feat for the franchise, makes it to the SkyDome in time to give an on-field hug after Frye's fourth at-bat.
2002 Homering in the seventh inning off Mariner stater James Baldwin, Yankee All-star Alfonso Soriano becomes the first second baseman to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in the same season. Bobby Bonds is the only other Yankee to post a 30/30 season accomplishing the feat in 1975.
2002 Alex Rodriguez becomes the sixth player and the first infielder to compile five consecutive 40-home run seasons. The Rangers' shortstop joins Ralph Kiner (1947-51), Duke Snider (1953-57), Ken Griffey Jr (1996-2000), Sammy Sosa (1998-2002) and Babe Ruth (1926-32), who established the record with seven straight 40-homer seasons.
2003 Good grief, Peanuts character Charlie Brown joins late broadcaster Bob Prince, Negro League star Josh Gibson, former catcher Manny Sanguillen, and current shortstop Jack Wilson to be honored by the Pirates with a bobblehead doll give-away day. Almost ten percent of the nearly 18,000 Peanuts strips created by Charles Schulz focused on baseball.
2003 The Rally Monkey, the Angels' unofficial mascot, is honored for its contribution to last season's world championship with its own bobble head doll promotion. The Rally Monkey Bobble Belly joins other dolls given to fans this year paying tribute to Troy Glaus (2002 World Series MVP), Adam Kennedy (ALCS MVP), and Mike Scioscia (AL manager of the year) and will wear an Anaheim jersey with a name of a honored player on the back.
2004 As she enters Raley Field at 6:27 p.m., five year old Olivia Perez is honored by the River Cats as she becomes the four millionth fan in franchise history. The Triple A affiliate of the Oakland A’s reaches the milestone faster than any club in minor league baseball history.
2005 St. Louis announces the franchise has broken its single-season attendance record of 3.43 million set in 1989. The first-place Cardinals have sold 3.45 million tickets for the team’s farewell season at 40-year old Busch Stadium.
2006 For first time in big league history, both teams hit leadoff home runs in the first two innings of a game. In a 5-4 White Sox victory over Kansas City at U.S. Cellular Field, Royals batters David DeJesus and Emil Brown go deep leading off in the first and second inning respectively as does Pablo Ozuna and Jermaine Dye for Chicago.
2008 During the fifth inning of an 11-8 loss to the Twins at the Metrodome, Mariners' right-hander R. A. Dickey throws four wild pitches tying a major league record for WPs in one frame. Seattle backstop Kenji Johjima is also charged with a passed ball on another pitch thrown in the infamous inning.
2008 The Blue Jays set a team record for two-baggers slugging 10 doubles in a 15-4 victory over the Red Sox at Fenway Park. With his 5-for-6 performance, Alex Rios club ties a club mark becoming the third player in franchise history to hit four doubles in one game.
2008 In a pre-game 55-minute ceremony at Minute Maid Park, Craig Biggio becomes the ninth Astro to have his jersey number retired. The Smithtown, N.Y. native, who wore number 7, is the team's all-time leader in games (2,850) and seasons (20) played.
2008 Josh Hamilton becomes only the sixth major leaguer to be intentionally walked with the bases loaded. Rays' manager Joe Maddon's decision to give the Rangers' slugger a run-producing free pass in the ninth inning is successful when Tampa Bay goes on to win the game in Arlington, 7-4.
2012 Lugazi, Uganda becomes the first team from Africa to appear in the 66-year history of the Little League World Series when they are defeated by Aguadulce, Panama, 9-3. None of the African youths, who have become the darlings of the tournament, have been playing baseball for more than two years.
2012 Clay Buchholz strikes out Adam Jones (looking), Matt Wieters (looking) and Chris Davis (swinging) on nine pitches in the bottom of the sixth inning of the Red Sox's 6-3 victory over Baltimore at Camden Yards. The immaculate inning thrown by the Red Sox right-hander marks the 47th time the feat has been accomplished in major league history, and the first for a Boston hurler since Pedro Martinez turned the trick in 2002.
37 Fact(s) Found